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Paper: Use of a Seeing Monitor to Determine the Velocities of Turbulent Atmospheric Layers
Volume: 194, Working on the Fringe: Optical and IR Interferometry from Ground and Space
Page: 303
Authors: Roosen, R.; Meisner, J.
Abstract: Using the illumination of an arbitrary bright star, a schlieren optical system at the focus of a .75m telescope has been successful in imaging atmospheric turbulence. Such an apparatus translates the gradient of atmospheric phase variations into intensity variations. A CCD camera captures snapshots of the resulting pattern at a 60Hz frame rate. Successive frames are later cross-correlated in order to extract the velocity vectors of winds affecting the turbulent layers responsible for astronomical seeing. Integrations of correlation over a period of around 10 seconds have been found to give signal-to-noise ratios sufficient to clearly identify upper air wind velocities. Due to its ability to identify the individual contributions of distinct atmospheric layers towards seeing, such an apparatus may have use as a realtime seeing monitor in conjunction with ground based interferometers and adaptive optics systems, as well as in statistical studies of seeing.
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